


Before Praimfaya

by CamiWeaver



Series: May the Spirit choose wisely [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F, Prequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:35:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25484041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CamiWeaver/pseuds/CamiWeaver
Summary: Re-edited so this is a one-shot to sum up the background for "May the Spirit choose wisely"
Relationships: Clarke Griffin/Lexa
Series: May the Spirit choose wisely [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1846033
Kudos: 2





	Before Praimfaya

Clarke was sitting in her new room, staring at the wall, but not seeing it. In front of her eyes, the past day’s events played on replay, always stopping on the emerald green eyes that no longer held the stars.

A knock on the door shook her out of her miserable staring.

"Enter!" she called, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

The guard pushed the door open.

" Wanheda! The Nightblidas sent me to deliver a message." he looked at her with knowing eyes, and she recognised him as Rarik, one of Lexa’s regular guards at her quarters. "The conclave is about to start, and they insist on your presence. Aden specifically ordered me to tell you, that you might see something you like."

Clarke didn’t know what to make of that. She always thought highly of Aden, and she really doubted that the boy though she would enjoy watching children slaughter each other. She knew Lexa was working on changing the ways of the conclave, but she never mentioned anything to indicate that she succeeded.

She contemplated not showing up, but the thought of staying locked up in the tower was suffocating. She wanted to show her support to Aden, and she still worried about Ontari. The woman showed up two nights ago and literally tried to assassinate the Nightblidas in their sleep. The guards managed to stop her before she reached them, but because she was a Nightblida herself, she could not be killed. Upon Titus’ request she was released shortly after, and Clarke would have been outraged if she wasn’t so utterly exhausted.

When she arrived at the outskirts of Polis, with her guards in tow, she saw the training grounds surrounded by the people of the capital and probably more from the surrounding areas, all wanting to witness the rise of the new commander. On the podium most of the clan leaders were already seated, including Kane and Abby, both of whom wore a concerned impression.

Just as Rarik directed her towards the podium, Abby’s eyes found her and she shot out of her seat to welcome her and pull her into a hug. Clark didn’t held onto her mother, she was Wanheda after all, but Abby seemed to understand. She simply nodded and guided her towards Kane.

The murmur of the crowd died down when the Nighblidas lined up in front of the podium, all in warrior gear and Lexa’s warpaint on their faces. It sent shivers down Clarke’s spine. Only after the initial shock did she notice, that Ontari was not amongst them.

Titus stood in front of the conclave.

"Nightblidas! The time has come for the Spirit of the Commander to move on, and today we bow our heads to Lexa kom Trikru and thank the Gods, that her Spirit can live on in one of you. May the Spirit choose wisely!"

The Nightblidas bow their head together with everyone around to pay their respect to their former Heda. Clarke let slip of a single tear, and as she lifted her eyes to Aden, she found him already looking at her. He nodded his head and turned away.

The Azgeda delegation was sitting right next to Skaikru. Roan, king of Azgeda leaned over to Clark.

"I didn’t think you would want to see this." Although he was teasing, Clarke saw the sincerity in his expression. "She was working against the conclave you know" he continued "it is a shame that her death erased the promises of the ambassadors."  
"What do you mean?"  
"She made them promise that even before she can formally change the conclave, they would support her notion and would allow the Nightblidas to fight for the Spirit without having to kill their brothers and sisters." he explained in hushed tones.  
"They believe they do not have to keep that promise any more – the realisation dawn to her."  
"No. This has always been how the Spirit was passed on. Most of them believe that if more than one Nightblida survived, the Spirit would be weaker."

They could not continue their conversation longer, as gasps from the audience forced them to look at the Nightblidas.

Clarke expected that some of the young ones were already dead, so her eyes went wide when he saw them stand in a circle holding hands. Just as on a cue, they kneeled to the ground and prayed:

"Spirit of Commander  
Please have mercy on me  
Guide me to see you  
Before it is too late

Spirit of Commander  
Shine through one of us  
And let Nightblood flourish  
Through all the days to come

Spirit of Commander  
I swear to protect you  
My loyalties always,  
Forever lye with you!"

With that they all stood and Aden moved to the middle of the circle. Whatever the conclave should have looked like, Clarke was sure that the way it was coming along was not something any of the bystanders saw before. People kept glancing at Titus, some of the ambassadors were raging in their seats, the Broadleaf Clan’s leader was held in place buy some of the Commander’s guards who, on Titus’ orders, were trying to prevent the small number Broadleaf warriors to march into the arena and attack the Nightblidas for not fulfilling their duties to choose the next Commander.

In the meanwhile Aden stood patiently and watched as one of the youngests of the novitiates took a stand in front of him. The girl couldn’t have been more than 9 and Clark was sure she didn’t stand a chance. To her utter surprise, she draw her blade and took steady stepps forwards Aden. When she reached him, she took her blade and sliced her palm, black blood instantly spilling to the ground. She lifted her blodied hand to Aden’s face and added a new extension to the war paint, then stepped back and kneeled in front of him and offered him the sword.

Aden stood regally and commanded her to rise. With a nod the girl took her place in the circle again, and waited the next one to step forward.

Some of the ambassadors had to be escorted off the podium, while others watched with various excitement as the Nightblidas continued their way of the conclave. Clarke could see from the corner of her eyes that Luna, the leader of the Boat People and the only living Nightblida from the previous conclave stared at the children with tears in her eyes. She turned her face to the man next to her and whispered ‘This should have been us’. He didn’t answer, just took her hand a squeezed it. Clarke watched the exchange knowing that Luna fled her conclave after she was forced to kill her own brother. She knew that was the reason why Lexa never allowed Titus to go after her.

Luna’s suddenly serious face made her look back to the conclave. Four of them bowed to Aden so far, but the next boy was clearly not in agreement with them. He did slice his palm like the others, but instead of moving closer to Aden, he draw it across his own face and stood tall across from Aden, who nodded in acknowledgement and draw his own sword. And the first fight of the conclave begun.

Clarke thought ‘this was too good to be true’ as she watched the boys deliver lethal blows after lethal bows. She held back her breath when Dez fell on his back and Aden held the blade of his sword across his neck. To her, and everyone else’ surprise Dez closed his eyes and nodded, and Aden lifted his blade. With a swift movement he pulled Dez to his feet. Trin, the first girl to bow to Aden offered him a bowl of water and Dez swiftly washed off his war paint and did as all the others before him: bowed to Aden.

Within the hour the crowd saw three fights and Aden rose victorious. Before Titus could even start to declare the new commander, a part of the crowd split in two and a lone figure walked to the arena. All the Nightblidas stood tall and in front of Aden while the commander’s guards run to aid them against the lone, hooded person.

When the hood came off, the crowd gasped. Ontari stood strong and challenging, eyeing Aden through the bodies that separated him from her.

"You may have defeated the cowards by now, but the conclave is not over!" she yelled.  
"Lead that traitor away!" came Titus’ commanding voice, but the guards hesitated. She was a Nightblida after all, who was yet to challenge Aden.  
"No!" Aden’s voice carried as the crowd fell silent. "she has the right to try."

The smirk that played along the lips of the boy reminded Clarke so much of Lexa, and the first time in 3 days, she let herself smile just a little.

The guards took their places around the arena again, and the other novitiates stood nervously on the side, while Ontari and Aden started to circle each other in the centre. Clark knew that this was the only fight that mattered today. She also knew that no matter what, one of the two will die today.

The fight was even, and long. They both suffered multiple injuries, painting the ground black beneath them. Aden looked exhausted, and as Clarke watched him limping in the sickeningly slow dance with the Azgeda she could feel that the end was coming.

Ontari decided to strike again and her blows seemed harder and harder to withhold. With a quick set of carefully maneuvered hits she got Aden to lose his last sword and kicked him to the ground. The distance between them was no more than a few feet and though she could have simply walk over to the heaving boy she let out a war scream and lounged forward with an animalistic roar. Clarke watched with horror as she jumped and lifted her sword to run it through the boy.

Time slowed down and she could not look away. Aden rolled from in front of the blade the last second and kicked out Ontari’s legs from under her. With a speed he should not have had he jumped to his feet and stabbed an all too familiar dagger into Ontari’s exposed neck. Black blood splashing and covering his face almost instantly as the girls stumbled to the ground, with an otherworldly surprise in her blank eyes.

"Aden kom Trishanakru, Heir to Beka Promheda, Successor to Lexa kom Trikru!"

Titus was standing in the throne room announcing the new commander to the representatives of the 13 clans.

Aden held his head high as he walked in to recite the lineage, the Nightblidas all following him. His injuries were visible, but his eyes were shining. At the end of the ceremony he stood infront of his throne, looking down on his people, all kneeling by his feet.

"Rise!" his voice was a little uncertain, but the people rose nonetheless. "Hail, warriors of the 13 clans!" he said a little stronger.  
"Hail, Commander of the Blood!" The answer came in unison.

Once everyone left the room he slumped against his throne exhausted. He knew he was going to have the hardest time of his life to keep the Coalition afloat. And he didn’t know just how much harder it was becoming right that moment.

Raven was going through some information Skaikru sensors were collecting from various clans – the ones that were perceptive of Skaikru being part of the coalition. Some of the outer clans reported a mysterious illness that took a toll on them and Abby insisted that the described symptoms were identical to radiation poisoning.

"But aren’t the grounders immune to radiation?" argued Raven.  
"An increased level of exposure could still cause these symptoms." said Abby.

She was concerned as she could not think of any other disease that would match the markers. Seeing it first-hand what happened to the Mountain Men she was certain that the two bodies that were sent to her for examination from the Desert Clan faced a similar faith. The only thing she couldn’t wrap her head around was, where the extra radiation could come from.

The first thing Skaikru asked from the new commander was to be allowed to investigate the issue, and of course Aden complied. He did have a soft spot for the ambassador of Skaikru after all and he needed to keep the few loyal clans happy to help him solidify his rule. So Raven, Monty, Jasper and Bellamy accompanied by a few Trikru and Trishanakru soldiers took off to the Desert Clan to find the source of the radiation.

The team marched straight to Polis with their findings and were stopped just outside the throne room where the ambassadors were meeting

"Commander, this is ridiculous, you cannot possibly ask Rock Line to simply hand over the bounty to the Blue Cliff Clan?!" they heard the argument through the doors  
"Of course he can!" sounded another, smug voice. "He is the commander after all." the mocking tone felt out of place, even for the listening Skaikru.  
"He is all but a child for God’s sake!" exclaimed the first speaker.  
"You will not disrespect the commander like that!" Indra sounded tired, more tired than they ever heard.  
"It sounds like not everyone is on board with the kid-commander butting in in their business, huh?" smiled Raven. The comment got a few glares from both Trikru and Trishanakru warriors.

The meeting was ended shortly after and a few visibly raging ambassadors stormed through the small group waiting in the hall.

"Guys!" exclaimed Clarke when she spotted them waiting in the door. "You are back! We thought you will head to Arkadia first and radio in…" she trailed off, eyeing them suspiciously.  
"We didn’t think it can wait." said Bellamy.  
"All right, come in!" Clarke said, furrowing her brow.

She took in the small contingent as they took the seats around the table after bowing to Aden. He looked much older than on the day of his conclave, yet still too small and fragile on the throne.

"Where is O and Linkoln?" asked Clarke.

The group exchanged sad looks and in the end Raven decided to answer.

"Well, it is part of the reason we came straight here. Linkoln is dead." Clarke was not the only one snapping her head up; Indra and Aden also focused on Raven now.  
"What? And O?"  
"She had to go off on her own for a bit" said Bellamy quietly.

And so Raven went on to explain them all how they found an old power plant on the far border of the Desert clan, and found out that the plant was melting down quickly. Linkoln volunteered to scout the plant and by the time he managed to stumble out of the building the radiation poisoning was too severe. It didn’t take long for Raven and Monty to set up a simulation including all the known reactors from before the bombs fell and what would happen to them without maintenance for so long.

"What does this mean?" asked Aden, trying to make sense of the mostly technical jargon the Skaigirl was telling them.  
"It means" said Raven, with a resigned and lost expression "that the nuclear power plants across the globe are breaking down. And once all the protective layers of their buildings give in, a burning wave of radiation will swipe us all out."

The room fell silent for minutes.

"How much time do we have?" whispered Clarke.  
"6 month at best."

Aden discussed this information that he could barely comprehend for days with his advisors and Skaikru before he brought it in front of the other clans. People were afraid, and the only good that came out of it was that the clans most opposing Aden’s leadership ceased to send assassins to take him out. Everyone was trying to come up with an idea to save their people.

"How is Aden holding up?" asked Rave one night, sitting in Clarke’s room going over and over the notes from the ark about possible bunkers around their location.  
"He is spent. It is crazy how many people blame him for not being able to figure this out. I mean, he is only 15 for f**ck’s sake!" she exclaimed. "All of Arkadia is working on this crap, and they blame the kid for not saving their ass."  
"Isn’t Titus supposed to be some kind of a barrier between the poor kid and the raging clan leaders? I saw what went down before we arrived with the news. Indra sounded exhausted"

Clarke looked up at her, with a half smile on her face before she could school her expression.

"Aden had Titus arrested and killed. She is filling in."  
"What? When?"  
"Not long after you left for the desert." said Clarke nonchalantly. "He said a subject that murders his own commander cannot be allowed to live."  
"Wow, I didn’t think the kid had it in him."  
"Me neither. And to do it with the traditional Trikru way to honour the last commander…"

Raven looked at her a bit worried. Lexa’s name was a taboo for all Skaikru lately, unless they wanted to lose Clarke for the day.

"A thousand cuts? Doesn’t that mean he had to…" Raven trailed off when she saw Clarke nod quietly.

Their saviour came in the face of the new Flaimkeepa and an old half-record of a secret bunker that was ordered by one of the billionaires of the old world. They didn’t know if it ever got built, but it was their last chance. The refugees fleeing the radiation were already overflowing the streets of Polis.

Gaia, the new Flaimkeepa told Aden a legend of Beka Promheda, that described the first Commander telling all the Nightblidas that if the world would end again, they will have a way to survive and save their people, they just have to look in the flames and find the key that rose from the ashes.

The bunker that laid right under the tower was amazing, but the 1400 people it could contain was an issue Aden had to figure out. His still weak position did not grant him a chance to find a diplomatic way of agreeing with the clans. More and more ambassadors supported an eye for an eye approach and believed that only the strong should have a place in the bunker.

When the Plains Riders’ leader suggested to hold a conclave with the strongest warriors of each clan to decide which one of the 13 gets to move into the bunker, more than half of the ambassadors agreed. Aden was going to raise and oppose this, but Indra softly pushed him back to his throne. Three of the Nightblidas were murdered in the last few month, and the clans clearly felt like they were deprived of their right to see the commander rise from the conclave.

She didn’t how the fight would go, but one thing she knew. Aden needed time to prove himself as the commander and right now, he would only be risking his life by opposing them

Kane, Abby and Clarke were debating all night to decide on a Skaikru champion. Clarke wanted to take the spot and hope that Wanheda can succeed once again. Abby, of course, rejected the idea immediately, but Kane had to consider it.

"With Octavia gone, we do not have a choice. Clarke is the only one that has the slightest idea about grounder fighting techniques. And they all fear her."

"I don’t care, Kane. This is suicide!" by then tears were springing into Abby’s eyes from desperation.

"Mom…" Clarke’s arms encircled her and pulled her into a tight hug.

The action shocked Abby since she could barely touch Clarke since the commander’s death. Nobody could.

"Don’t do this, please!" begged Abby, while Kane tactfully excused himself to give them a minute.  
"I have to. Who else would you think has even a little chance?"

Abby ignored the question.

"I don’t want you to use this to take the easy way out." she said quietly. As she lifted her eyes to her daughter she saw the shadow of guilt flash though her features. "I know you."

Clarke watched quietly as her mother let down her walls and revealed the broken parent behind the mask.

"I am sorry, mom." Clarke whispered and tears started to flow down her cheeks.

She thought she hid her pain well enough that people could not see through her. She hoped they saw a leader tiring herself to find a way to save her people. But her mother saw her for what she was. A mourning girl at the edge of breaking apart.

"Oh, baby. Don’t be!"  
"I loved her, mom." Clarke sobbed into her mother’s embrace.  
"I know, honey. I know."

In the end, Clarke did not have to place the survival of Skaikru into Wanheda’s hands. Just before dawn, a small dark figure entered the city and marched right to the arena that would be used for the conclave.  
Octavia.

The girl who once chased glowing butterflies in the forest was completely gone. The dark look of Skairipa was only holding a slim resemblance to that of the girl under the floor.

To most of the clans’ surprise Octavia won the conclave.

But before anyone could have even attempt to sabotage Skaikru from taking the bunker, she walked over to Aden, nodded her head briefly to Indra, and fell on her knees. She lifted her sword drenched in blood and swore fealty to Aden. With that she handed him a weapon, a way to claim his rightful place as the leader of all the clans.

The conclave was followed by a stressful few days, as the clans decided among themselves who will be allowed to take the 100 places in the bunker allocated for their clan.  
In the meantime Arkadia was moving most of their technology into the bunker, and a small group led the last errand to the research lab they came across on one of the islands of the lake people.

The firsts of the black rain arrived, and the clouds that carried the radioactive rain covered the planet in darkness. The solar panels of the rover gave up soon, making it impossible for the team to return to Polis in time.

And so fighting with the elements 6 of them managed to take off in a space ship to spend the next years on the rig eating Monty’s algae, while Clarke remained on Earth.


End file.
